


Consequences

by refusetoshine



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Angst and Feels, F/M, Reunion, Ten Years Later
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-06
Updated: 2020-05-06
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:01:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24030964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/refusetoshine/pseuds/refusetoshine
Summary: Every action has a consequence, and for Elliot, that action cost him a decade.
Relationships: Olivia Benson/Elliot Stabler
Comments: 4
Kudos: 26
Collections: Froday Flash Fiction Regular Challenges 2020





	Consequences

**Author's Note:**

> This is purely speculative and is based on the news that Elliot Stabler will be in the Season 22 premiere.
> 
> I've never written for this pairing before but I love it so much.

_Ten years…_

He could see her helplessly holding a bleeding nun in her arms. He could see the young girl holding the gun, refusing to put it down. He could see himself pulling the trigger and the girl bleeding out in his arms while she stared at him in shock.

_Ten years…_

He could still remember the fear he’d felt when he’d shot the girl. He could remember the anger he’d felt afterwards, not at her, not this time. He could remember the pain he’d felt when he’d severed his ties to the one thing that kept him going.

_Ten years…_

He could hear the disappointment in his Captain’s voice when he called to ask him why. He could hear the pop of yet another bottle cap as he downed another beer. He could hear the choice words his wife had spoken as they argued for what seemed like the millionth time since he’d made the biggest mistake of his life by leaving her behind.

_Ten years…_

He could taste the glue from the envelope he’d sealed his divorce papers in. He could taste the whiskey that he’d drowned himself in the day his ex won full custody of their son. He could taste the burger he’d been eating at a little diner when he saw on the news that she had been missing for days. 

_Ten years…_

He could smell the saltiness of the sea as he cleared out his mother’s house in New Jersey after her unexpected death. He could smell the rain as it fell on him and the rest of the funeral goers. He could smell his daughter’s perfume as she told him through tears that it was because of her that his mother had come to talk to her granddaughter all those years ago. 

Every day of the past ten years he’d been reminded of her. Every day, he’d wanted to see her, to apologize, to let her know why he’d shot that girl He wanted to tell her that he loved her more than anything and that was why he had to leave. 

And now, here he was, ten years later, standing in the same room where he’d made the decision that had haunted him for a decade. Her hair was longer. She had a few more lines on her face. She was no longer a Detective, but led the unit as a Captain. 

“Elliot?”

“Hi Liv.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally posted over at [Froday Flash Fiction Challenge](https://fffc.dreamwidth.org/) for the Consequence challenge.


End file.
